Large Coaching Scene at the Peacock, Islington, London.

by Pollard, James

North-Country Mails at the Peacock, Islington in London. Coaching scene reproduced from an engraving by T. Sutherland "Engraved from the Original Picture in the Possefsion of Henry Wormald, Esquire", hand-coloured by James Pollard and published by J. Watson in 1823.

The Peacock in the remote London suburb of Islington, was where north country mails picked up their passengers. The mails left very early in the morning and most passengers overnighted at the Peacock Inn or at the less famous Angel Inn. An important coach-yard for the stabling of horses, the Peacock was the southern terminus of the great Holyhead Road.

Thomas Telford was making the finest coach road in the country, ‘under the direction of the Parliamentary Commissioners’ (who supplied the funds), by flattening the hills and filling in the valleys -  until George Stephenson invented the steam locomotive. In 1784, the first mail coach averaged only 6 miles an hour. By 1823, an average of 10 miles an hour was achieved by the fast coaches. The Shrewsbury Wonder, also on the Holyhead route, was considered the most punctual coach coach in the country. When the competitive Nimrod was introduced on the same run, the proprietors of the Wonder introduced a third coach to run behind the Wonder to protect it from the poaching of passengers. The three coaches often raced each other, and arrived all together, at high speed - a full two hours ahead of schedule.

Vintage coaching print with slight age-discolouration/foxing, 51 x 38cm (20 x 15 inches). Image 320 x 468mm (12 1/2 x 18 3/8 inches).